Mountain Wanderer Map and Bookstore

About Me

Owner of Mountain Wanderer Map and Book Store and avid hiker for 40 years. Editor of AMC White Mountain Guide and author or co-author of several other White Mountain guidebooks. Member of AMC Four Thousand Footer Committee and WMNF trail adopter.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Bald Mountain (Tecumseh)

A crisp, breezy day for a bushwhack to view ledges on the SW ridge of West Tecumseh.

Hardwood whacking again.

A stout maple.

Big tree, small flower.

Verdant.

Saw lots of this through the day.

Shadow effect.

Emerging
on ledges, looking up the ridge to Bald Mountain, West Tecumseh and Mt.
Tecumseh. Hat and gloves were needed for my lunch break.

The three great spur ridges of Green Mountain plunge into the Haselton Brook valley.

The
granite slabs of "Spring Mountain," so named by late 1800s guidebook
editor Moses Sweetser, after mineral springs located at its base.

Puffies to the south.

Uptilted ledges. The NH bedrock map shows that these are metamorphic rocks of the Rangeley Formation.

If a col could be called spectacular, this one would fit the bill.

"Bald Mountain Park."

Guardian yellow birches.

Heading up the ridge, no more open hardwoods.

Wild.

A mini-col.

Steep...

...and rough.

A bit of snow atop Bald Mountain (2940 ft.).

Snow-capped Moosilauke.

Kinsmans and Cannon.

Scar
Ridge. One of the Mack Brook slides is seen on the left. The 2017
Halloween storm blowdown is the gray patch below the summit. Part of the
old slide that gave the mountain its name can be glimpsed on the right,
under the col between the summit knobs.

A fresh coat on the Franconias.

It looked mighty cold up there.

Mt. Tecumseh at the head of the Haselton valley.

Looking across to the Green Mountain spur ridges.

Spring Mountain, head-on.

Unusual rock formation on the southern spur ridge, with a long crevice below.

Southeast view, with the Belknaps on the horizon.

Looking south. Mt. Kearsarge in the distance above Cone Mountain.

Down-look.

This
almost looked like an old moss and lichen coated cairn atop Bald
Mountain. There was never a trail on this ridge, and with minimal
prominence it's not on any peakbagging list.